2013 SpreeGoogs NBA Mock Draft – Picks 8-14 (Plus Podcast)

In a lot of ways, the NBA draft lottery is like the real lottery. Lots of money changes hands and in the end there’s MAYBE one winner and a bunch of losers with shattered high hopes. However, no one writes blog posts and records podcasts about the real lottery.

In part two of the 2013 SpreeGoogs mock draft, we finish off our hypothetical lottery and take our predictions further off the beaten path. If you missed part one, I got your back. Here’s the audio for picks 8-14.(**Editor’s note: If you’re the type to get offended by occasional vulgarity, this isn’t for you. But really, it’s extremely occasional.)

Carter-Williams is a HUGE point guard with octopussy arms that give him great defensive potential. He’s not much of a shooter yet, but he might be the best passer in the class, and his size is much more attractive to Detroit because Brandon Knight isn’t tall enough ride roller coasters that go upside-down. MCW is the ideal backcourt partner for Knight, who is already surprisingly good at scoring, even though he fits pretty poorly in the current offense. MCW will get plenty of minutes opposite Knight and the two might be an odd, but effective, couple.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

9. Minnesota Timberwolves – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG, Georgia

Unlike most lottery teams, the ‘Wolves have a really good idea of what their roster is going to be. Three of the starting spots are virtually locked in and Minnesota has two shots in the first round to load up on wings and hope someone sticks. Caldwell-Pope brings a lot of size for a two guard and has a perimeter game that relies a lot on staying outside and shooting. That’s exactly what complements the shifty/slashing Rubio.

Kelly Olynyk

10. Portland Trailblazers – Kelly Olynyk, C, Gonzaga

The lottery-purgatory Trailblazers don’t need a lot out of this draft. They have talent. In fact, it seems a little weird for a team with this much talent in between Minnesota and Philadelphia in the draft order. Olynyk has a beautiful outside game for a big man and his offense can be a nice pairing opposite J.J. Hickson, who can basically only score when he catches the ball at the rim. I don’t know if there’s much to be said for a pro team drafting a localish college player, but you know what you’re getting with Olynyk, and that’s something.

Cody Zeller

11. Philadelphia 76ers – Cody Zeller, PF/C, Indiana

Until this Andrew Bynum mess clears itself up, Philly needs to add quality bigs that can eat up minutes. On the plus side, Zeller comes from a pretty professional college team at Indiana and has a decently pro-ready game. On the other hand, he’s a little small to be banging with Association big men and his natural comparison is his brother Tyler, who kind of sucks. Andrew Bynum strikes again as he basically takes away options for this pick. Philly has to go big and Zeller is the highest-percentage gamble.

C.J. McCollum

12. Oklahoma City Thunder – C.J. McCollum, PG/SG, Lehigh

The Thunder don’t really have a lot of huge holes and with McCollum, the get the best payer left at a position that can use an upgrade. OKC isn’t drafting any starters at this spot, so a bench 1/2 like McCollum makes everyone happy. C.J. will have to get used to a role on a team where he’s not the guy, but that’s not a real problem. He can come in and pass the ball to Kevin Durant about as well as anybody left on the draft board.

Shabazz Muhammad

13. Dallas Mavericks – Shabazz Muhammad, SF, UCLA

On actual draft night, Dallas is probably making this pick for another team. Unfortunately, we won’t know until the night of the draft what happens to 13, so for now, I’ll just pick for the Mavs. The current roster is set up to leave cap space open for next offseason, with only one player signed past next season. Shabazz gives the Mavs a scorer who can develop for a year while the offense shifts away from more expensive options like Vince and Mayo.

Shane Larkin

14. Utah Jazz – Shane Larkin, PG, Miami

I’d be really surprised to see a mock draft that didn’t have the Jazz taking a point guard. It’s a position of need, and if they get a serviceable one, they’re a playoff team next year. The Jazz still have questions marks about their big men, but too many talented frontcourt players is not a bad problem to have. Larkin is maybe second to Burke in whatever type of “leadership” you want to measure, and his quickness is something that maybe only Dennis Schroeder can match. With Schroeder still on the board, the Jazz take the experience of Larkin over the question-mark German.

Over the past few weeks, a number of GMs seem to have been warming to Flynn and he looks like a potential lottery pick at the moment. A number of teams in the lottery including the Kings (No. 4), the Wizards (No. 5), the Timberwolves (No. 6), the Warriors (No. 7), the Knicks (No. 8), the Bucks (No. 10), the Pacers (No. 13) and the Suns (No. 14) all need point guards. And after speaking with at least one source from every team, I learned Flynn is in the mix for all of them.

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What Is SpreeGoogs?

It’s exactly what you think it is — a sports blog written primarily as an homage to the perfect combination of all skills basketball expressed as a two-man team of Latrell Sprewell and Tom Gugliotta in the 1994 classic NBA JAM: Tournament Edition. More accurately, it’s about sports and how thinly the analogies between sports and other topics such TV shows, movies and video games can be stretched to provoke the imagination and sometimes allude to the 1990s.